Life After Love
by xforgetregret
Summary: Self-explanatory. This is AFTER Edward leaves Bella in New Moon. Jake and Bella are getting ready to go the movies and are being all cute best friend-ish. Note: Bella knows Jake is a werewolf already. This is part one and there are more chapters coming!
1. My Sunshine

_He_ wasn't coming back. That was the harsh reality that I had to live with now. _He_ was gone and left me to transform into a zombie. That is, until I started hanging out with Jacob Black. Jake took the darkness away with his illuminating smile. He was the only sun in my life now. Charlie couldn't have been happier, seeing how close I was with Jacob. It was obvious that Billy felt the same way. I could have sworn they were planning our wedding behind our backs. I wasn't ready for a relationship yet, plus I didn't see Jacob that way… at least I thought I didn't.

I was almost positive that people assumed we were a couple, especially Billy and Charlie, because we walked holding hands and he always holds me when I need it the most. But that was because he was my best friend. If anyone else tried it, like Mike or Eric, I would break their arms off or use the pepper spray that Charlie loved giving me every time he would think I ran out of my previous one. Jacob was different than anyone I had ever known. Even _Edward_. I cringed at the thought of _his_ name, feeling a sharp pain strike my heart. You would think that I have learned my lesson by now. It has been a little over six months since _he_ left and the pain that took my breath away every time I so much as thought of _his_ name was unbearable.

Jacob filled the large void in my heart and I was so happy that I had him in my life. I snapped back into reality when I realized that there was a large russet colored wolf standing in front of me. I suddenly felt his tongue lick the side of my face and heard his wolfy chuckle which sounded like a 90 year old man who has bronchitis from smoking too many cigarettes. "Ew, Jake!" I screamed giggling as I wiped his slobber off of my cheek. It was still weird to see him in his wolf form. But I was starting to become used to it.

I absentmindedly ran my fingers through his long, warm fur and laughed as I watched his large tail swish back and forth with happiness. "Are you going to phase back or are you going to go to the movies like this? I may be able to handle werewolves, but I'm not sure that other people will," I teased. He did his wolfy laugh again and nodded his head once and licked my other cheek before running off into the woods. "Jake!" I screamed and laughed as I wiped my other slob-infested cheek. Before I was finished getting his saliva off of me, he was already back.

His smile sent a sense of happiness over me. It was impossible not to smile when he did, it was contagious like a yawn. He was dressed in a black muscle tee shirt with blue jeans. I couldn't help but let my eyes linger on the protruding muscles that were coming out of the sleeves of his shirt. I didn't realize I was staring until I heard his voice, "I'm assuming that you like this outfit better?" I felt a rush of heat fill my cheeks. My face must have been crimson by now. I seriously needed to get a tan. My pale face had no match against how many times a day I blushed with embarrassment.

Once I could talk again I finally agreed, "Much better." He walked closer to me, still with a grin plastered on his tan skin. "Ready to go?" He asked and I nodded. He took my hand and we walked over to my car. His hand was so warm in mine, something that I wasn't used to. I was used to the coldness. However, the heat was growing on me and I wasn't complaining. We climbed into the car and made our way to the movie theatre.

**_To be continued…_**


	2. The Car Ride

Jacob immediately reached for the radio and began browsing through stations. He knew what the rules were; no love songs. He stopped at a rap song that I wasn't familiar with and began singing along. I felt my eyebrows stitch together as I laughed a little, keeping my eyes on the road. "What's so funny?" He asked laughing along even though he had no idea what was so hysterical to me. "You rap now?" I asked curiously raising one of my eyebrows. He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, "Well you don't make me listen to anything else so it's all I listen to know. I even made up my own."

My eyebrows shot up in shock, "I hope you're joking." His entire body shook with laughter, "I'm not joking, Bella. I'll perform it for you right here, right now." I turned my eyes quickly to look at his reaction to see if he was serious or not. "Okay, I want to hear it," I said with a smile knowing that this was going to be good as long as it had nothing to do with love. My eyes shifted back to the front window, paying attention to where I was going. And then, he started to rap. "Sure, sure girl. Once you go Jacob Black, you never go back-" He could barely get the last couple of words out because we were both hysterical with laughter.

A sheet of tears covered my eyes as I realized I hadn't laughed like this in a long time. "Holy crow, I can't see! I'm crying to hard!" I took one hand off of the steering wheel to wipe some of the tears out of my eyes and then it immediately went down to hold my side from laughing too hard. Jacob grabbed the steering wheel as the car began to swerve. Oops. "Bella, easy!" He said between laughs. "Can't. Breathe," I said gasping for air as the laughter wouldn't end. I put my signal on and pulled over on the side of the road. Once I put the car in Park, I slammed my head against the steering wheel a bit too hard as I continued laughing.

Jacob's laughter was in tune with mine. "I don't know whether I should be offended or take this as a compliment." I turned to look at him and tried to calm myself down but it wasn't working so I just shook my head. "I can't believe you just said that," I finally spoke after I could breathe again. Jacob grinned from ear to ear, "It was worth it just to see you smile." I felt my cheeks heat up again and I took a few deep breaths. "Okay, I think I'm alright. I can't believe I had to actually pull the car over. New rule, you can only rap while I'm not driving," I teased with a smile. "Deal," he responded and laughed with me as I started to drive again towards the theatre.

He began browsing through radio stations again and then when I recognized the song by Queen, "You're My Best Friend." He was about to change the station but I told him to keep the song on. "But it's about-" he started, confused as to why I wanted to hear the song since it mentions love more than once. "I know," I cut him off. I didn't want to say the reason as to why I wanted to listen to the song so I stopped there. I started singing along with the lyrics and Jake joined in as well. I didn't know if he was catching on to what I was trying to say. The song reminded me of him.

_Oh, you make me live. You're the best friend that I ever had. I've been with you such a long time, you're my sunshine and I want you to know that my feelings are true; I really love you._

The lyrics said more than I could ever express to Jake. He was my best friend, he was my sunshine and I loved him. I felt his warm hand wrap around mine that was rested on my lap, the other hand was resting on the steering wheel. "I love you, Bella," he told me as the song ended. My heart sped up a bit and I wasn't sure why. "I love you too, Jake," I said honestly with a smile. I decided not to look at him. I hoped that he knew that I meant as a best friend. I was so thankful to have him around. If I had to go through this alone, there was no telling where I would be right now.

A weird silence fell upon us. I felt his thumb caress the hand that he was holding. I decided to break the awkward silence. "We should be there in five minutes. What movie are we seeing again?" I asked. "We didn't pick one out, remember? We agreed to pick when we get there," he told me and I felt like an idiot. "Oh, right." Awkward silence. "I guess that rap really threw me off guard," I said with a laugh and was grateful when I heard him laugh as well. "Well, at least we didn't have to bring that guy Mike again. Oh and this time, I'm picking the movie. There's no way I'm sitting through the same crap I had to watch last time," he told me, laughing again.

I rolled my eyes as he brought up Mike. "Ugh, don't remind me. And fine, you can pick the movie," I said, agreeing to his statement. He raised his brow, "No restrictions as to what I pick?" I bit my lip and thought for a moment. I had gotten through an entire love song without transforming back into a zombie so would I be able to handle a love movie? "No," I finally said and wasn't sure if I would regret this later. He dramatically gasped, "Really? You really are letting me choose whatever I want?" We were finally at the movie theatre parking lot and I backed into a spot. I put the car in Park and shut off the engine. "Nope, I trust you." I didn't know which was scarier; the fact that we would be watching Jake's movie choice or the fact that my last statement was true. I trusted him more than he could ever imagine.

**_To Be Continued..._**


End file.
